


Ya Heard? With Perd!

by middlemarch



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Capitol switchboard number, F/M, Humor, Joe Biden - Freeform, Lil' Sebastian - Freeform, Marriage, Networking, Romance, Social Media, call your senators, grassroots, healthcare repeal, political activism, swing votes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 14:31:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12134502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/middlemarch/pseuds/middlemarch
Summary: Leslie has a brainstorm. It's 3 am. What's new?Or, using fan fiction to motivate readers to save American healthcare. 32 million people are at risk of losing coverage.





	Ya Heard? With Perd!

“Leslie, who are you texting now?” Ben muttered. They’d gone to bed after making sure the triplets were all accounted for, lunches and work-bags prepped for the morning, even a batch of overnight oatmeal chilling in the fridge (Leslie wouldn’t touch it but the boys liked it well enough and Sonia made herself a breakfast calzone every day, proving genetics), and it was dark and so late it was early and Leslie’s face was lit by her phone, her fingers tapping away.

“I had a good idea and it couldn’t wait till morning,” she said, not sparing him a glance.

“You know they still see the area code if you leave a message for the Senator after hours. There’s no point in you calling the swing votes overnight, you’re still not a state resident,” Ben said, tired because it was late and because they had to even have the conversation again. Leslie had taken the Capitol switch-board number, 202-224-3121, and sort of jammed it into “867-5309” which she sang under her breath, in the shower, while she was stirring up waffle batter and the iron was heating on Sunday mornings. She’d made Ann memorize it too, which was the bigger accomplishment, since Ben was pretty sure Leslie had known the Capitol switch-board number since she was 11.

“I know. I’m not calling any of them. And before you ask, I’m not faxing anyone either. Grassroots—that’s the way to go,” Leslie said.

“‘Grassroots?’” he repeated.

“Networking. Getting in touch with friends in states with swing votes,” Leslie replied.

“But you’ve already called Andy and April and Ann. You Grzzyl-texted everyone in your phone. Including me. The Lil’ Sebastian emoji was a nice touch, by the way,” Ben said.

“Not everyone. I forgot the most important person,” Leslie almost cackled.

“I don’t care what everyone says, Joan Callamezzo is not the Angela Merkel of Pawnee,” Ben groused, turning over and staring up at the ceiling. He’d never liked the light fixture in their bedroom but there’d never been time to get it replaced and he only really thought about it at times like this.

“No, not Joan. Perd. Perd Hapley—he’s everywhere! And he knows everyone. If I can get him to retweet my tweet about Graham-Cassidy,” here she gagged a little, as if he’d offered her a kale salad, “It’ll go viral! Even if he just reblogs it, everyone follows him.”

“I have to admit, it’s not a bad idea,” Ben said thoughtfully.

“Of course it’s not. It’s perfect—friends talking to friends, using social media to amplify important messages, all it’s missing is whipped cream,” Leslie said, finishing her text/email/tweet barrage to Perd and setting the phone back in it’s cradle. She almost sounded sleepy, which meant she was wiped out.

“C’mere. You’ve got to get some rest. There are a bunch of parks to protect tomorrow and more calls to make and Sonia’s orthodontist appointment. You need your sleep,” Ben said, pulling Leslie over. She settled down without any argument, a rare situation. He listened to her breathing even out and then he listened to her sleep-murmuring,

“You were right, Joe. You always are.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please call your Senators and tell them to vote NO on Graham-Cassidy. It's a terrible bill that will hurt and kill people. 32 million people will lose coverage. It's arguably WORSE than previous attempts to repeal the ACA.
> 
> (The crux of this story is the fact that Joe Jackson, who plays Perd Hapley, has played newscasters in a bunch of other shows. That's the only role he plays. Ever.)


End file.
